NEWPORT NEWS — Junior Toa Hollenbeck registered a new career high Sunday, scoring 32 points while leading Christopher Newport University to a 93-88 victory over the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. The victory was the eighth straight for the 17th-ranked Captains, and the 15th in their last 16 games. John Krikorian‘s squad is now 16-3 on the season.
Hollenbeck, who went over the 1,000-point mark for his career earlier this month, scored 21 of his 32 in the opening half as CNU opened a 46-34 lead at the intermission. The Chesapeake, Va., native knocked down all five of his three-point attempts in the first half and finished the game six-of-seven from long range. Hollenbeck passed his previous high of 30 points scored vs. John Jay in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament last March.
Senior Collin Hines scored 15 points, and juniors Zyir Baskerville and Tyson Henderson also reached double figures for Christopher Newport with 13 points each.
The Captains pushed their lead to as many as 15, 76-61, on an Isaiah Dozier three-pointer with 8:28 to play in the second half, but the Crusaders would not go away quietly. Mary Hardin-Baylor, now 13-6, rallied in the final minutes, cutting the CNU advantage all the way down to two, 90-88, with just 18 seconds left on the clock. The Captains would hold on thanks to a free throw from Tyson Henderson with 17 seconds to go, and two more at the line from Collin Hines with just one second remaining, to secure the five-point triumph. UMHB out-scored the Captains, 27-14, over the final seven minutes as the Captains made just one of their last 11 shots from the field.
The Captains are now 9-1 at the Freeman Center this season. Next up on the schedule, Christopher Newport will travel to Misenheimer, N.C., next Sunday to take on Pfeiffer University. Game time is set for 3:00 p.m.
